A Nine-Year-Old Soccer Hero in Hawaii

Yudi Weinbaum is passionate
about many things-chief among them, Judaism, with soccer trailing behind as
a close second.So he really took it to heart when his normally cheerful son,
Yossi, came home from a recent soccer match almost in tears.

"I don't know what
happened," said the 9-year-old, who is home-schooled and takes classes
at Chabad of Hawaii in Honolulu. "Before we began playing, the referee
saw my tzitzit hanging out of my shirt and told me I couldn't play unless I
took them off or cut off the strings."

The referee claimed that
the tzitzit somehow broke the ban on wearing extra sporting equipment to the
game.

Yossi
Weinbaum, left

Unsure
of how to proceed, Yossi-who had been playing soccer since he was 6 and had
never encountered a problem like this before-took the advice of his coach to
tuck in his tzitzit and get back on the field, joining his teammates on "Hawaii
808." Within minutes, he scored a goal, and things appeared to be back
to normal.

It took until the second
half before the referee noticed his kipah and ordered him to remove it or leave
the game. So Yossi walked off the field, knowing that was non-negotiable.

"This was something
that had never happened before," says coach Tye Yamada, who had been coaching
children's soccer for five years. "Yossi is one of our most reliable offensive
players, and we've never had any issues. Boys should not have to sit out of
games for reasons of religion."

Weinbaum comforted his
son, assuring him that he had done the right thing. It was the day before Sukkot,
so after the holiday ended, he and his wife, Estee, set about to address the
issue.

"We suspected that
this was either the result of ignorance or anti-Semitism, and we wanted to clear
the air as fast as we could," says Weinbaum, a London native who runs Hawaii's
only kosher-catering business, Oahu Kosher. "I immediately wrote an email
to the coach asking him to look into it."

In the past, they say,
Yamada and his co-coach, Michael Lancet, had always been supportive of Yossi
missing practice and games, for example, when it coincided with the Sabbath
or Jewish holidays.

Within days, the family
was gratified to learn that the incident was the result of unawareness on the
part of the individual referee, and they were assured that it would not happen
again.

"Please let your son
know that we wholeheartedly support him, in his religious convictions and his
wearing of religious attire at soccer games," wrote Phil Neddo, Oahu League
President. "Furthermore, we have asked the State Referee Committee about
measures by which referees can be made more aware of the allowances of non-dangerous
religious attire, more alert to situations where a player might fall under that
rule, and as sensitive as possible to the diverse backgrounds and religions
of all participants."

After receiving an equally
sincere letter from the offending referee, who said he honestly did not know
what tzitzit were, the Weinbaums say they felt confident enough to send Yossi
back onto the field.

"Soccer is a great
unifier, bringing together people from different cultures and backgrounds,"
says Weinbaum, himself a long-time fan of the Liverpool F.C. (Football Club).
"It was so refreshing that this unpleasant incident served to open more
doors and educate others about the Jewish people, and our unique faith and traditions."

As for Yamada, he adds
that he's grateful that Yossi is again with the team, dribbling and dragging
the ball towards the goal: "He is one of our strongest, most fearless players,
and it's good to have him back."

From an article on //chabad.org by Menachem Posner | November 25, 2015